Floodplain Surveys
Multitudes of homeowners and commercial property owners have to deal with the possibility of being forced to pay for flood insurance. It is impossible to opt out of buying flood insurance if mortgage companies decides that the property resides within a 1% flood zone; this is an area that is supposed to experience a big flooding event that occurs once every one hundred years. The overwhelming majority of these properties that are in danger of being flooded are situated near water sources like oceans tidal areas, tributaries, creeks and rivers. To make sure that you can avoid this expensive flood insurance it behooves you to get a floodplain survey.
Flood maps FEMA makes new flood plain maps every five to ten years, often redrawing the boundaries and confusing people even more and making the situation for homeowners a difficult one. When a new property is purchased it may have been the case that the house was not in a 100 year floodplain, but when it comes to sell the home or even refinance loans you are suddenly you could be within this 100 year flood zone according to newly issued maps. Very few potential home buyers will want to buy a home that they will be forced to pay flood insurance on, possibly costing them addition hundreds of dollars a month. This floodplain insurance cost becomes perpetual and the cost doesn’t decrease, only increasing due to economic factors. Elevation Certificate An Elevation Certificate is an authorized form of the National Flood Insurance Program made to equate a property’s elevation to the Base Flood Elevation data. It gives you elevation data for acquiescence with floodplain management laws, supporting map change applications and setting insurance premium rates, particularly the Letter of Map Amendment and the Letter of Map Revision Based on Fill. The Elevation Certificate is required by the National Flood Insurance Program to verify the bottom floor of a building so that the policy can be properly formed. Flood Insurance Requirements The Federal government mandates property owners to acquire flood insurance for buildings situated inside of high-risk flood zones recognized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Property owners are gradually being informed of this obligation as they attempt to sell their homes or refinance already existent loans. Because of new Federal Emergency Management Agency map alterations, numerous property owners have been advised for the very first time that they will have to obtain flood insurance on buildings that they have owned for many years. Letter of Map Amendment In some particular cases, the records may show the requirement for a LOMA (Letter of Map Amendment) to have your building or land formally detached from the floodplain area. This would absolutely abolish the requirement for flood insurance and is a very favorable outcome for a homeowner. If your property or building is not Letter of Map Amendment qualified there may be an alteration in the premium. Often the premium is pointedly lower, other times higher and sometimes there is little to no change at all. |
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